


Breathe

by Skydancer8



Series: NCT One-shots [15]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Comfort, Fainting, Overwork, Platonic Relationships, Sad, haechan centric, worried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 13:23:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skydancer8/pseuds/Skydancer8
Summary: Today was a bad day.Bad days when he had Dream dance practice right after 127 practice. Days when he couldn't walk properly and came home late in the night. Days when his fatigue would last for hours and make him sick when he couldn't afford to be. Taeyong hated those days.orHow NCT deal with a very overworked Lee Donghyuck.





	Breathe

They were all on the floor, sweat dripping and dampening their clothes. It had been _hours_ of practice and all of them were spent. The tour, interviews and variety were taking a toll on them, no doubt, but it was during practice when they were all together, struggling and fighting for breath to improve. It was all worth it in the end, as their own fans commented on their improvement.

"Okay, guys" their choreographer smiled, clapping his hands. "That's all for today. Everyone except Haechan can go rest in the dorms"

Taeyong looked up from staring at the ground, right at the young boy who had his head bowed, bottle tightly held in his right hand. Everyone knew that their youngest member, Lee Donghyuck, was going through a tough time. Demands of Dreams comeback were high and he had to squeeze his time to practice, considering he had been left out of Dreams schedule for a long time. Even Mark hadn't been in the middle of a tour when balancing his unit time, and the worst he had faced was a double comeback.

Donghyuck not only had a tour but a comeback on his back. 

His days were split into _good days_ and _bad days._ Good days were when his schedule was spaced out, giving his rests in between and perhaps a less tiring interview to go through which gave his an hour o sleep in the van. Those days, he would be himself and lighten up their days with random teasing and jokes. 

But today was not a good day. Today was a bad day.

Bad days when he had Dream dance practice right after 127 practice. Days when he couldn't walk properly and came home late in the night. Days when his fatigue would last for hours and make him sick when he couldn't afford to be. Taeyong hated those days.

"Come on, Tae" Johnny coaxed and pulled Taeyong to his feet. "We'll wait for him at the dorms."

Taeyong glanced back at Donghyuck once more. He knew the younger hated when they'd show their worry one too many times, and it would only cause him to feel like a burden. On bad days, they had to stay away from him before he finishes his schedule, so he could stay focused even when his body begged him to rest.

They all walked out and the door closed behind him. 

Donghyuck looked up from the floor, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Slowly, he rose to his feet, rolling the bottle to the corner of the room. He had to focus in order to improve. His friends had waited for him for so long in order to finally get a comeback. He couldn't let them down.

"So...Boom?" Donghyuck asked and the choreographer nodded. "Live vocals or no?"

"Better if you can try it, but if you're too tired, just stick with dancing first"

"...okay, hyung"

"We're proud of you, Haechan" 

Donghyuck looked up, eyes wide as the choreographer smiled warmly. "You're trying really hard, and I'm sure it'll pay off. Slay the comeback and have a good rest afterwards, okay?"

"Yeah...thanks hyung"

* * *

**11:47pm**

Taeyong had decided to be the one to wait for Donghyuck to come home. 127 had become used to his bad days, and were pretty good at handling them. However, that night the practice seemed to go on longer than expected, and Taeyong had fallen asleep on the couch, head bent in a strange angle.

The door clicked open as Donghyuck shuffled into the dorms, arms wrapped around himself in an effort to keep himself together. He moved in small, unbalanced steps, literally shaking from the fatigue. Small whimpers of exhaustion escaped his lips as he stumbled to his shared room with Jaehyun. He cast a look at Taeyong's sleeping form before looking away, feeling bad for his hyung. When he reached the door, however, he found himself incapable of turning the knob from how hard his hands were shaking.

He sobbed quietly, leaning heavily against the door and trying to squeeze out the last of his energy to _turn the freaking door knob._ In the end, he knocked on the door, weakly sliding down to the floor. 

Jaehyun startled awake, eyes red and puffy. His body moved automatically to the door and slowly pulled it open. 

"Taeyong, you could just have opened it by yourse-" he started but realized he was talking to nothing but air. His gaze drifted downwards to Donghyuck who was on the floor, still leaning against the open door. "Oh...Hyuckie"

He dropped to his knees and slowly eased the door open wide, letting Donghyuck fall into his arms. With as much gentleness as he could muster, eh slipped the bag off of Donghyuck's back and carried him bridal style to his bed, pulling the covers over his shivering body. After that, he continued to wake up Taeyong.

"Hyung, he's back" 

Taeyong;s eyes widened and he shot to his feet. "How is he?"

"Really bad. He's shivering"

"Wake him up. I'll heat up the leftover soup"

It broke Jaehyun's heart to wake up the younger when he needed sleep so much. Donghyuck whimpered as Jaehyun lifted him to a sitting position, positioning him so that his head was laying on Jaehyuns chest. 

"Sorry, Hyuckie, but you need to eat and wash up" he coaxed gently, tapping the youngsters cheek. "Just for a moment, yeah?"

And Donghyuck had cried. He had sobbed and cried softly because he was so tired and just wanted to go to sleep. His mind was in a haze and his body felt hot and cold at the same time and he was just so _confused_. Jaehyun pressed his lips together and gave comforting words, holding Donghyuck tight in his arms until the door opened and Taeyong came in.

"Oh...baby..." Taeyong whispered and hurried to Donghyucks' side. "I know you're tired...but you have to eat."

"Just a bowl" Jaehyun added.

Donghyuck was not dumb. He knew that it was for the best and without opening his eyes, he let Taeyong spoon soup into his mouth, between his trembling lips. At one point, he almost choked but Jaehyun was there to pat his back and rake a hand through his hair. He did not know when he finished it until they were shifting him so his legs were dangling off the side of the bed.

The door opened and Mark peeked in, hair a birds nest. "Did he just come home?"

Taeyong nodded. "I think practice went on for a long time. Do you wanna help?"

Mark slipped inside and went into the bathroom where he knew what to do. He placed a plastic stool right under the shower and adjusted the water temperature. The soap was placed on the floor so they wouldn't have to reach up. When he had finished, Jaehyun carried Donghyuck who had been rid of his outer layer of clothing, save his underwear and towel. Slowly, they placed him on the stool an dMark let Haechan rest his head on his shoulder as Jaehyun too the shower head and turned on the shower.

It was safe to assume Donghyuck had fallen asleep throughout the whole process of washing up. Mark even had to support his head as Taeyong leaned over to brush Donghyucks' teeth. It pained all of them to see Donghyuck in such a state, semi-conscious but unable to move at all.

The shower seemed to perk up a part of his senses as he helped them get himself dressed before they tucked him into bed where he fell asleep in a second. 

"I don't know how long he'll last like this" Jaehyun whispered as Taeyong and Mark prepared to leave them. "His bad days are increasing"

"We'll just have to take care of him throughout the year" Tayeong replied quietly. "We can't do anything much more than that"

* * *

"He's on a music show"

Taeyong looked up from watching the Boom MV. Yuta showed his phone where Donghyuck had sent a picture of him and the Dreamies on a blue set. 

"Aishh...can't give the kid a break, huh?" Johnny murmured as he picked at his food. "We're lucky enough that none of us have fainted onstage yet"

"Don't say that!" Jungwoo exclaimed, pouting his lips. "Hyuckie is strong enough to deal with it!"

Doyoung scrolled through the Vlives, a smile on his face. "He seems to be happy to be back with the Dreamies. You guys have to worry less. He's happy enough where he is now."

"But he has another performance soon" Taeil argued. "I mean, he went for Fireflies and then a comeback, now SM has his schedule packed once more"

"It's for the best, hyung" Mark spoke up. "The demands for more Dream content has to e met. They were on hiatus for months, so its normal for SM to put more pressure on them"

Jungwoo smiled. "We have to trust Hyuck, hyung. He'll be fine"

Taeyong frowned and looked back at his phone. A notification popped up that read a message from Donghyuck . Without telling the others, he pressed on it .

_Hyung must be worried~I'm okay! Jaemin is intent on giving me as many vitamins as possible and my appetite went up because of it. I'm gaining back my weight, hyung, and I don't have a diet plan HAHAHA! They've missed me a lot and I'm happy being with them. Focus on yourself, hyung, you need rest after you station! Love ya~_

A smile played on his lips at the message. Jungwoo was right. he had to trust Donghyuck on this one.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Sorry this was so short but I'm kinda in a rush? Let's give Haechan our support and love~
> 
>   
> [twt](https://twitter.com/Skydancer_8?s=09) | [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Skydancer_8)


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